Friday, January 20, 2012

Urban fantasy normally isn't my thing, but Kelly Meding's premise in Three Days to Dead - a woman who's devoted her adult life to protecting the city in which she lives from the beasties that lurk in its shadows, awakes in a morgue in a body not her own, to learn that aside from her missing memories, she has three days before the body she inhabits dies and thus, three days to unravel the mystery of what put her in the morgue in the first place - intrigued me enough to pick it up and give it a read.

And boy was I glad I did! The plot moves along at a quick clip as Evangeline Stone searches for answers throughout Dreg City, encountering fantastical creatures that include goblins, vampires, gargoyles, gremlins, faeries and perhaps my favorite modern incarnation of a bridge troll. She turns up more answers than she was initially seeking, which naturally moves the plot forward to its satisfying conclusion. And there's just the right amount of romance and humor thrown into the mix as well. One of the things that initially turned me off the genre, was the urban fantasy I had read appeared to be thinly veiled romance. Not so, here. There's not one forced scene in the book, and the chemistry between the characters seems genuine.

Three Days to Dead will appeal not just to readers of urban fantasy, but folks who enjoy adventure, romance and fantasy of any type.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

From Shadows & Nightmares, the Nightfall Publications anthology containing my debut short story "Fetch," has been nominated for the Preditors and Editors poll, Best Anthology of 2011. Please feel free to vote here. If the desire to purchase a copy grabs you, there's a link to the book on the fiction page of this blog.

In other short story news, my story "Caveat Emptor" has been picked up by Stupefying Stories and will appear in an upcoming issue. Stupefying Stories is edited by Bruce Bethke, the man who coined the term cyberpunk with his titular short story that appeared in 1983. Learn more about Stupefying Stories at the Rampant Loon Press website, or get updates at the Stupefying Stories facebook page. I've read the first two issues and they are spectacular. The third issue is in my to-read queue and I have similar expectations for the content.